Mechanism for feeding caps to capping-machines.



E. R FREYER. MECHANISM FOR FEEDING GAPS TO CAPPING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 16, 1909.

Patented Mar. 29, 1910.

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' WITNESSES ATTORNEY INVENTOR Aimnw B. GRAHAM C0. PHOTO-LHHOGRAPNERS. WASHINGTON. 21.0.

953,326, Patented M11229, 1910.

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EGMONT R. FREYER, 0F SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO PEERLESS CROWN CORK FEEDER COMPANY, OF SAN F RANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A FIRM.

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING GAPS TO CAPPING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 29, 1910.

Application filed January 16, 1909. Serial No. 472,617.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EGMONT R. Fnnxnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sacramento, in the county of Sacramento and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Feeding Caps to Capping Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide mechanism for feeding crown caps to a capping machine for capping filled bottles which will require little attention on the part of the operator, and will be reliable and eflicient in operation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the machine to which my apparatus is applied; Fig. 2 is a detail rear view of the outer conical wall detached; Fig. 3 is a front view of the feeder detached; Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the apparatus, partly in side elevation; Fig. 5 is a broken front view thereof; Fig. 6 is a horizontal section; Fig. 7 is an enlarged broken front section, showing the passageway for the crown caps; Fig. 8 is a broken rear view of the hopper.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a capping machine, which comprises a capping head 2 and a rotatable table or disk 3 provided with a circular series of sockets 4; adapted to receive crown caps, and by the rotation of the table, to feed them in succession into position beneath the capping head. While in such position, the operator, by depressing a foot lever 5, depresses the capping apparatus, which eifects the capping of the bottle. This portion of the apparatus forms no part of my present invention, being described and claimed in an application now pending and filed October 1, 1908, Serial No. 466,560.

6 indicates the main wall or casing of a hopper into which at intervals are supplied caps in convenient quantities. The lower rear portion of the hopper is closed by means of a frusto-conical wall 7 the smaller and inner circular edge 8 of said wall lying wholly within the hopper, while the outer edge is extended in a plane transverse to the axis of the cone to form a flange 9. The lower rear edge of the main wall 6 is secured to the conical portion of the wall 7 The upper rear portion of the hopper is closed by means of a straight wall 10 which is secured to the upper portion of said flange 9 and at its ends to the main wall 6. To the lower portion of said flange 9 is screwed a bracket 11, which extends in front of the hopper, and is formed at the end into a split collar 12, which surrounds the top of the casing of the capping head, and is clamped thereto by a screw 13 screwed through two lugs 1 1 of the split collar and drawing said lugs together. Also secured to said bracket 11 are arms 15 which are attached at their upper ends, as shown at 16, to the flange 9 of the conical wall 7 above its center. Said bracket has also a downwardly extending arm 17, which, at the bottom, is bent out wardly, as shown at 18, and is apertured to pass over the spindle 19, upon which rotates the feed table of the capping machine, a nut 20 being screwed on said spindle above said extension 18.

Secured to the flange 9 is a flange 21 of a rear frusto-conical wall 22 having a central opening considerably wider than that of the front wall, its inner edge being bent to form an inwardly extending flange 23. Secured upon the lower portion of the rear wall 22 are angle plates 24, between which is secured a chute 25 leading downward from an opening 26 formed in said rear wall, and at the lower portion extending inwardly or forwardly, so that the lower end is slightly above the rotating table. Said chute is additionally secured in place by means of a link 27 pivoted at its ends, as shown at 28, 29, to the chute and extension 17 respec tively, said link comprising two sections 27, 27, connected by a turnbuckle 30, so that the link can be adjusted in length as desired.

Secured to the sides of the chute at its lower end is a yoke 31 having upwardly extending lugs 32, in which is pivoted the shaft 33 of a roller 34, the lower face of which extends into a slot 35 formed in the upper surface of the chute so as to engage the tops of the caps 36 therein. The object of this roller is to prevent the dropping of the foremost cap being hindered by engagement of its flange with a flange of the next cap in the rear, and the roller prevents this by its pressure upon said next cap in the rear retarding its forward movement and preventing it unduly pressing upon the cap in advance, so that said cap in advance is free to drop when it arrives at a circular opening 37 formed in the end of the chute. When said foremost cap has thus dropped, the pressure of the caps behind the one in contact with the roller is sufiicient to advance said latter cap in its turn. To said yoke 31 is attached one end of a thin metal plate 38, which extends over all of the sock cts 4 in the feed table 8 from the chute to the capping head, the other end of said plate 38 being secured to an arm 39, the upper end of which is secured upon the spindle 19.

Upon the side of the rear wall 22 are secured the arms 40 of a spider or tripod 41, which is formed with a bearing 42 for a horizontal shaft 43. Loose upon said shaft is a crank arm 44 which is attached to the upper end of a link 45, the lower end of which is attached to an arm 46 extending from a plate 47 which is stationarily supported upon the bearing 48 for the spindle of the feed table. As explained in my said pending application for capping apparatus, when the foot lever 43 is depressed, the effect is to depress the whole of the capping apparatus so that the hopper and chute are like wise depressed. But, since the link does not descend, the effect of the descent of the hopper is to turn said arm 44 upon said shaft 43. Said arm carries pivoted thereon, as shown at 50, a pawl 51 having a counterbalancing weight 52 which causes said pawl to engage a ratchet wheel secured upon a sleeve 54 which rotates within said bearing 42 and around the shaft 43, the inner end of said sleeve being attached to the hub 55 of a feed plate 56. As a result of this connection the feed plate always rotates in one direction, that is, in a right handed direction viewed from the front, This rotation is an intermittent one, a movement being made each time a bottle is capped. Said feed plate is frusto-conical, in form, its conical surface rotating near to the inner conical surface of the front wall, but sufliciently remote there from to permit only one layer of crown caps to pass therebetween. Said feed plate is formed at its edge with a circular series of lugs 57 spaced from each other the diameter of a crown cap, said lugs being so formed that said space is wider on the rear side than on the front side, so that no crown cap can pass therethrough unless it lies with its flanged or rim portion directed toward the rear, said rim portion being wider than the central portion. These lugs 57 form, with the front and rear walls 7 22, a circular passageway, the inner edge or side of which is formed by the circle of the lugs 57, while the outer edge is formed by a narrow arcuate metal strip 58 secured on the inner conical surface of the wall 7 on the left hand side looking from the front. Said passageway is sutficiently wide to permit the crown caps to move therealong only in single file and it leads at its bottom to the opening 26 in the rear wall which is connected to the top of the chute.

As the feed plate 56 rotates, the crown caps which are at the outermost portion of the annular space between said conical feed plate and the front wall 7 rotate therewith, and when any crown cap, which has partly passed through an opening between two lugs 57, arrives opposite to a place in said circular passageway which is not occupied by crown caps, on account of the latter having advanced toward the chute, said crown cap then completely passes through said opening between the lugs and into said passageway, and takes its place at the end of the file of caps falling toward the chute. In order to insure that said crown caps shall reach said passageway on one side only, there is secured on the inner surface of the front wall 7 of the right hand side thereof, looking from the front, an arcuate metal strip 59 considerably wider than the strip 58, the inner edge of which lies close to the lugs 57, and which extends to a point in advance, or to the left, of the top of the chute, and thus prevents the passage into said chute of any crown cap until it has passed beyond the top of the chute, and has-reached a position in advance, or to the left, of the same. But for such provision, the result would be that two crown caps, arriving at the top of the chute from both sides, would jam against each other in their passage to the chute, so that neither one could drop into said chute. By the provision of this strip 59, it is insured that crown caps can proceed to the chute only by means of the passage on the left of the feed wheel, and no crown cap can enter said passage except at a point from which the caps have already dropped in the passage sufficiently to leave a vacant space above the last crown cap in said passage.

In order to agitate the crown caps in the hopper there is secured upon the front wall of the feed plate a bar 60. It has been GX- plained that, on account of the openings between lugs 57 being wider at the rear than at the front, no cap can pass into the passageway, and thence to the chute, unless the cap lies in a position in which its rim or flange is at the rear and its central or raised portion is at the front. Should a cap drop between the conical feed plate and. at the front wall in the wrong position, that is, with the rim toward the front, then, not being able to pass into the grooved passageway, it will be carried up by the succeeding caps until it arrives at such a height that it falls by gravity down the upper portion of the conical surface of the feeder, and, in falling again into the hopper, is very liable to be turned over, so that, the next time it drops into the space between the feeder and the front wall, it is in the correct position for being discharged into the passageway.

I claim 1. A feed hopper comprising a hopper wall, the lower portion of which is conical in form, a rear conical wall coaxial with the front conical portion of the hopper, said front and rear walls forming an annular passage and being spaced from each other at a distance to permit only one of the articles to be supplied to move along said passage, a chute leading from the bottom of said passage, a rotary feeder, the front face of which is conical and at a distance from the inner surface of the front conical wall which is uniform and suflicient to permit the passagetherebetween of only one layer of the articles to be supplied, said feeder being formed with a circular series of lugs extending toward said conical wall of the hopper and forming apertures each permitting only one of said articles at a time to pass therethrough into said passage from between the space between the feeder and the front wall, substantially as described.

9.. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a hopper, front and rear co-axial conical walls, having outer flanges secured together, the conical portions of said walls being spaced from each other to form a grooved passage, said passage being sufliciently narrow to permit only one layer of the articles to be fed to extend between said walls, a chute connected at the top with the bottom of said passage, a shaft arranged co-axially with said conical walls, a feeder secured upon said shaft having a conical front surface forming substantially an extension of the rear conical wall, whereby the space between the conical wall of the feeder, and that of the front conical wall of the hopper is also only sufficient to allow one layer of the articles to be fed, and means for separating the space between the feeder and the front wall from the space between the rear and front walls, said means being sufiicient on one side to entirely prevent the passage therethrough of the articles, and on the other side being provided with apertures substantially the width of one of said articles, to permit one article at a time to pass through said aperture and only when the passage in front of said aperture is vacant, substantially as described.

3. An apparatus of the scribed, the combination of a per, devices arranged to form a circular passageway leading to said chute, and of suiiicient width to permit the articles to be fed to pass therealong only in single file, rotary means for feeding articles into said passageway provided with a circular series of openings, each adapted to permit one article only to pass therethrough to said passage, said feeding means being connected with the hopper to permit the articles to fall from the bottom thereof into said passage and from the top thereof into the hopper when not distributed into said passage, means for rotating said feeder, and means for turning the cap when falling from the top of the passage into the hopper, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

character dechute, a hop- EGMONT R. FREYER.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS. 

